


Don't Know Where, Don't Know When

by NEStar



Series: Reunion Songbook [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-04 21:57:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18821536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NEStar/pseuds/NEStar
Summary: Steve thought returning the stones would be the hardest mission he ever faced.But it might just have some upsides too.





	1. Chapter 1

When Bruce first brings up the topic of returning the stones Clint breaks down in tears and, honestly, Steve isn’t far behind him. It’s Bucky and Sam that step up to help with the planing - and it’s Bucky who breaks the news to Steve.

“Thor won’t do it and you’re the only other person who can lift the hammer.”

So when the day comes Steve puts on the suit and tells himself it’s just one more mission. Get the mission outline, pick up the package and then - with one last quick look around at his teammates, his friends - the portal opens and he’s thrown back in time.

 

* * *

 

His first stop is Morag. He waits until he sees Nebula dragged out of the temple before slipping inside. The fact that everything had turned out alright was the only thing that kept him moving towards the altar instead of chasing after Thanos. 

As soon as he opens the container, the orb floats up and back into place. Steve returned the now empty box back into its slot and punches in the next stop.

Volmir is just as strange and rocky as Clint described, with the large mountain looming over him. The grief of losing Natasha rises up in him again and Steve knows he just can't bring himself to climb that mountain. 

Remembering Clint's account of a floating red faced gatekeeper, Steve calls out, “guardian of the soul stone.”

When Schmidt appears before him Steve wants to throw up. “Of course you'd be the one that took Nat.”

“Just as I took the others from you?” Schmidt asks. “I will take the guilt of the life you missed and the pain to your friend, Bucky. But Natasha made her own choice and it is the cost of the stone, nothing I charge.”

Steve hurls the box that holds the soul stone right at Schmidt's head. The box passes through it but Schmidt nods deeply and says, “it is returned.”

 

* * *

 

Asgard is even more stunning than Steve could have ever imagined. He turns around to discover Frigg waiting for him. 

“I will see that these are returned but first you…”

“Thank you for the offer, ma'am, but I need to get going.” 

“No.” The word is said gently but Steven can hear the power that comes behind it. Suddenly he feels like a boy again, during those times when he was too weak to go outside and his mother would sing to him. The case feels so heavy in his hand that it nearly slips but Frigg reaches out and catches it.

“When we were first married my husband was a warrior, like you, and thought that any show of weakness, even off the battlefield, was a sign that he wasn’t fit for the responsibilities he had to bare,” Frigg says while she leads him to a small room and gestures for him to sit down on a couch. “Even now that he is king he still tries to keep all the hardship and pain away from his people.”

Frigg kneels down and looks deep into Steve’s eyes, holding the contact for a long moment. “Oh, the stories I could weave about your life. You have seen so much pain, so much bloodshed and loss, but better times are coming for you.”   
  
“Thank you for saying so ma’am but -”

“Young man, you have no idea who I am or what I can do.” She smiles widely, her eyes crinkling up in merriment, “It has been a long time since someone had doubted my powers. Thank you for that gift.” 

A handmaid comes into the room carrying a tray with a cup and Frigg stands up. “My maid, Eir will tend to you. Drink the elixir and then rest. I regret that I will not be able to speak to you again but a storm is coming to Asgard and I must prepare.”


	2. Chapter 2

When Steve wakes up he feels better than he has in the last ten years. The maid is standing by the door, holding out his case, “I’m sorry that I must rush you but if the threads of time are stretched any further they might fray.”   
  
He takes the case with a nod and a “Thank you” before touching the button that will take him to his next stop.

 

* * *

 

The sun is setting over Camp Lehigh and Steve is even more thankful to Frigg for insisting that he rest. This may be even harder then seeing Thanos or Schmidt, knowing that he is so close to Peggy but that he can’t see her. He looked up her file one day and had seen that she had married,  so there was no way he could mess that up - even if he didn’t have other stops to make.

 

Putting on a holomask, Steve slipped back into the Army camp and made his way to the bunker. He made quick work of getting to Pym’s lab and replacing the vials before heading down to the lower level where the Tesseract was stored.

 

Sam and Bucky had tried to find an exact location in SHEILD records but were only able to narrow it down to an asle. Steve was trying to scan as fast as he could. So focused on looking for the box with a cut lock that the feel of a gun pressed into his back was a surprise.

 

“Hands up and turn around slowly.”

 

Every cell in his body screamed for him to do it, just turn around, but he held firm. He said, “I’m sorry but I can’t do that, ma’am.”

 

The gun pressed a little harder into his back, “Why not?”   
  
Taking a calculated risk, he answered, “I’m from the future. There was an event, a catastrophic event. The only way to fix it was with the items that caused it but our enemy had planned for a long time and destroyed them. We decided since the items didn’t exist in the present that we could borrow them from the past. I’m here to return what we took.”

 

“Pass over the item.”

 

“It’s in my case. I’m going to open it slowly.” Once he undid the clasp he held the case out at his side, “It should be the middle slot on the right. Marked as New Jersey.”

 

The gun was removed, “Well then, I’ll let you get on with your mission.”

 

“You believe me?” Steve want to sigh in relief and cry at the same time.

 

A soft hand touched his shoulder and a shudder passed through him as Peggy stepped closer to draw the box out of the case. “This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this story,”  she whispered into his ear, “January 10th, 1948. And try not to be late this time.”

 

* * *

 

His head is still spinning as he arrives in New York. He keeps the holomask on as he makes his way to the hall where he can see himself fighting himself on an upper walkway. The realization that there are three versions of him here at the same time does nothing to help his head. He hides behind a potted tree as the fight ends and the other time traveling him grabs the staffs and leaves.

 

Stepping out from his hiding spot he pulls the staff box out of the case and taps the disc to make it full sized again before laying on the ground next to his youngest self.

 

Once outside, Steve simply walked away, slipping through back alleys until he starts to see crowds again and then he just walks to Bleecker St. After all he’s done it feels a little odd to just knock on the front door. The monk that answers gives him an odd look but lets him in once he says, “Bruce Banner sent me.”

 

He’s left waiting in a room that could be a museum. After a few minutes a bald woman joins him, “I believe you have something of mine?”

 

He hands her the last box from his case. “We saved you for last, in the hope you might be able to tell if anything went wrong.”   
  
The woman closes her eyes for a moment, when she opens them again she pins Steve with a powerful glare. “The timeline seems to be in correct order with only one exception.” Steve never even sees the punch coming, just feels a blow to his chest that knocks the wind from him.

 

When he recovers he feels different, as if the world is off skew. He blinks a few times and then notices his body in front of him. He lifts a hand up to touch it but freezes before contact. His hand is small, the fingers long and thin. He had never told anyone but the hardest thing to adjust to after the surum was how big and clumsy his fingers were.

 

“What…”   
  
“You, Steven Grant Rogers, are interesting.” The Sorcerer says, “Most people live their lives like a string stretched straight from one point to another. You, however, are much more complicated. First there’s the length, you already reached what would be average for most people before your string starts to tangle - from the work with the stones - but then there is the final loop.”

 

She looks at him again and he thinks of Frigg, who wanted to weave stories about his life. 

 

“January 10th, 1948.”

 

His stomach lurches and for the first time in decades he feels like he might have an asthma attack.

 

“This date has some meaning to you?” the Sorcerer asks.

 

“I… I don’t know,” he stutters out. “When I was… Someone said…”   
  
The Sorcerer smiles, “Yes, well.”

 

A wave of her hand and Steve is instantly back in his body.

 

“But know that once you to travel to that date your string goes straight again.”   
  


The implication of what she just told him hit Steve like a brick, “Ma’am, would it be too much trouble if I -”

 

“Spend four days here?” She smiles softly at him, “I already had a room prepared.”


	3. Chapter 3

The new year had come in with a cold front and for one moment Peggy wishes she was back in California. But the warmth of the automat pushes that thought from her head. She sits down at the back booth and Angie already has a cup of coffee waiting before Peggy gets her coat off.

 

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of planning and paperwork, but this evening Peggy is going to rest. Her plan is a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese, one or more slices of pie as the mood takes her, and a novel she has been trying to read for three months.

 

It takes an empty coffee cup to draw her attention up from the book. Angie had been keeping her well supplied but now Peggy can see that there’s a tall gentleman at the counter who Angie can’t keep her eyes off of. Peggy waves her cup and Angie quickly hurrys over with a guilty look.

 

“Sorry for ignoring you, English.”   
  


“Don’t mention it. Just tell me that his front looks as good as his back.”

 

Angie laughs and slips into the other side of the booth. “Oh, sister, does it ever. I kept sneaking peeks when he first came in, ‘cus he kind of looked familiar, until he just said “cover up my face and I’m a dead ringer for Captain America”.”

 

Peggy forces the smile to stay on her face as Angie continues her story.

 

“He was an actor for a while. Played the Captain in a bunch of the movies.”

 

That’s is when the smile fades. As much as it pains her to see the comic books or hear the Captain America Adventure Hour, she is thankful that there have never been any other movies. That the only man to wear that stupid outfit was Steve Rogers.

 

“Angie, there was a deal made… This man… He couldn’t have…” Peggy doesn’t know how to tell her friend this fella has been lying to her. Angie picks up her meaning all the same.

 

“Then maybe I should introduce you.”   
  
Peggy notes the glee in her friends voice as she calls out, “Oh, Grant. Come meet another fan.”

 

The man on the stool turns around and every ounce of protective zeal flies away in a second. She take in the longer hair, the hint of stubble at his jaw, the weary look in his eyes - this man isn’t Steve Rogers, he can’t be, but every instinct she has is scream to her that he is.

 

“Well, not really a fan but someone who knows a thing or two about Captain America.” Angie sets up Peggy for a perfect take down, but Peggy is still warring with herself.   
  
“Please sit, I’d love to hear your story.”

 

Angie scurries off and the man - Grant - sits down. 

 

“It’s a long story,” he says. “And there are parts of it that I’m not ready to talk about but I can start by saying Enskin had no clue about how long the cellular regeneration would go on for, or what kind of extremes it could handle.”

 

Peggy sucks in a breath and is filled with cold fury, “I don’t know who the hell you are but --”   
  


“Stork Club, Saturday, 8:00. I was late, by almost seventy years.” He cuts her off. “They found me just in time so I could watch you die.”   
  
The anger and sadness in his voice pins her, keeps her from protesting, so he continues. “Tony Stark makes his father look like an idiot. Which is why. when the world went to shit in a way so far beyond comprehension, he invented time travel.” The anger has seeped away and only sadness is left now. “Twelve years, Peggy. Twelve years of fighting and sacrifice and being on the run, all capped off by an event so horrific it made Hitler look like a toddler throwing a tantrum. We managed to fix it, but the cost was so high. I was suppose to... “ 

 

The pain in his voice is more than she can take, so she reaches out and takes his hand.

 

“I got to read a highly redacted version of your file. It said you were married and nothing else and I never wanted to dig further but then…” He looks up at her and she sees him, the young man in basic training who jumped on a dummy grenade and couldn’t quite believe that he hadn’t died.”I ended up in 1970 and you had a picture of me on your desk and I messed up when I was returning the item we borrowed and you told me…”   
  
“January 10th, 1948?”

 

He smiles and that’s when she knows that somehow he really has come back to her.

 

The radio has been playing softly and Peggy suddenly recognizes Vera Lynn singing and has to laugh. Steve looks at her in confusion.

 

“It’s not exactly a sunny day,” she offers.

 

“Do you want me to come back later?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when.  
> But I know we'll meet again some sunny day.


End file.
